Personal Experience with Researching Family Ancestry

Researching your family history can be complicated. But I have discovered a few don'ts and a few dos researching mine. What follows is from trial and error and could save you hours of research and headache by taking a wrong turn in family history.

1) If elders tell you your related to someone famous, try researching your family history from that person forward. This worked in the case of my great great great, well I'm not sure how many great grandfather, John Quincy Adams. I am related to him on my fathers side. I thought it would e easy to track it back to him, but it wasn't. Finally I researched his parents, and children, and discovered that I was related via is Mom who was a Smith and my great grandmother was a Smith. Of course this is a possible name, but following the family tree from both ends so to speak, brought us to the same common Smith relative. Most of us have heard stories of being related to someone famous, so this may work for you.

2) If the name is common like Smith or Cole, forget ancestry sites on the Internet. You will have to find out more specific information. I also discovered that researching Thomas Cole , my great grandfather's name wasn't much help either. There are 200 Thomas Coles on ancestry.com. Track your family history by researching a relative with an uncommon first name.

3) Remember that family names can change. When researching family history, this is especially true if relatives have migrated through Ellis Island, which we think the Cole side of my family did. Many families either wanted to change their names, or the interviewers at the port did not understand their language and wrote the name down wrong. The Cole's I am researching were of German descent, but come to find out the German spelling of Cole is Kohl. This lead to what my Mother had always believed that we were part Jewish. So be open minded to the fact that the spelling of the family name you are researching may have changed.

4) I also discovered that the country of origin may not be true. Let me explain. My sister claims our Grandmother states her Dad was from Scotland. I remember her telling me he was from Ireland. Actually he came directly over to Ellis Island as a small child around 1880. Well, come to find out, many families migrated to a European country, maybe for even a generation or two, before coming to America. So be flexible with the country of origin. If you are determined your relatives are Irish, but track them to England, realize England may have been their temporary home.

Researching family history can be rewarding and frustrating. For me, it is a legacy I am leaving for my children and their children. Years later they can pass it on to their children. Hopefully a few of these hints will help you in researching your family's genealogy.